Lille
Lille is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region in northern France, near the border with Belgium.
A cultural hub and bustling university city today, it was once an important merchant center of French Flanders, and many Flemish influences remain. The historic center, Vieux Lille, is characterized by 17th-century brick town houses, cobbled pedestrian streets and the large central square, Grand Place.
Lille features an array of architectural styles with various amounts of Flemish influence, including the use of brown and red brick. In addition, many residential neighborhoods, especially in Greater Lille, consist of attached two- to three-storey houses aligned in a row, with narrow gardens in the back. These architectural attributes, many uncommon in France, help make Lille a transition in France to neighboring Belgium, as well as nearby Netherlands and England, where the presence of brick, as well as row houses or the terraced house is much more prominent.